A 69-year-old St. Louis woman has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after admitting she poured hot cooking oil on her sleeping roommate at a small assisted-living home, an attack in March 2022 that left the victim hospitalized until she died about a month later.
As reported by First Alert 4, Oliveria Jones pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree assault and received a 12-year sentence. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss a second-degree murder charge as part of the plea deal, and the judge ordered that Jones not have a cellmate. In court, Jones acknowledged she has schizophrenia and takes prescribed medication.
Attack at Smiley Manor
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's homicide tracker, the attack took place at Smiley Manor on Thekla Avenue in north St. Louis. Prosecutors say Jones heated oil in a microwave, then poured it on 63-year-old Doren Davis while Davis slept. Davis was rushed to a hospital and died about four weeks later, the tracker notes.
Legal proceedings and mental-health notes
First Alert 4 reports that an earlier jury deadlocked on second-degree murder and assault charges, leading to a mistrial before prosecutors and the defense reached the plea agreement. The station also notes that the medical examiner testified the burns from the hot oil aggravated Davis' lung disorder and caused her death, while Jones' attorney argued that Jones was mentally ill and that staff at the facility did not respond quickly enough after Davis was found.
Local outlets followed the case from the March 2022 attack through the mistrial and plea negotiations, and Monday's sentencing closes out a prosecution that has been on St. Louis' radar for more than two years.
